IDP Corner: TNF Week 6

While Denver’s defense as a whole has been lights out this fall, in the IDP world, even their stars are just sorta meh, and the reason is that in real life many of these players can make plays, but in the fantasy world that just means they all share the tackles, as apposed to one guy getting a bunch. San Diego’s defense has not been anywhere as good as Denver’s, yet similarly does not have many IDP standouts. The San Diego offense has been the primary culprit here, as they spend decent amounts of time on the field.

None of the players on either of these teams make me particularly salivate over what they can do fantasy wise. There are plenty of great LB2 and DB2 players on these teams, but no one is in the fantasy elite category.

Linemen:

Joey Bosa – The rookie had a good first week, 4 tackles (3 for losses), 1 assisted, and 2 sacks, if you need to fill a DL slot in your league, take a look at him, right now he is a risk reward option since we do not have a track record to go off of. That said, Denver does employ the run a good deal so he should have chances to get the work.

Derek Wolfe – He’s the only fantasy relevant DL player on the Broncos. His production is similar to Von Miller and Shane Ray (see below), which for a lineman is rather decent. He’s most likely owned in your league if you have a starting lineman position, but not worth hunting down and trading for unless he is a throw in on a trade.

Linebackers:

Jatavis Brown – The guy who has stepped up the most with Te’o out. He’s been hitting a solid 6 total tackles per week and mixes in other stats from time to time. He is worth grabbing for a bye week plug this week in smaller IDP leagues, but don’t go paying an arm and a leg for him in a trade.

Melvin Ingram – Hot and cold from week to week as far as statistical output, I bought into him stepping up even in the pre-season, which he has a little compared to last season, but not to the level any fantasy manager would be pleased as punch with. Ingram is similar to Brown in that he would has a chance to be a decent bye week plug this week, just for larger leagues.

Von Miller – Should be owned in most leagues due to sack totals and being a known player in real life, if you own him and someone is asking for him in a trade, see what you can get for him because there are plenty of equally productive LBs in fantasy. Considering he has 20 total tackles, he really is sack dependent for scoring and that will fluctuate week to week.

Shane Ray – Worth mentioning as he is the other LB getting sacks on this defense, the problem he gets about half the sacks, and about the same number of tackles as Miller, worth keeping an eye on him as he’s passed DeMarcus Ware on the depth chart, but I’m leaving him in the free agent pool for now.

Defensive Backs:

Casey Hayward – Coming off of a 8 tackle week Hayward continues to be ownable as Brandon Flowers continues to be out due to concussion protocol.

Steve Williams – His first game of the season was last week and he built up 7 tackles and a pass defended, given the guy in front of him, Craig, Mager, has totaled 10 tackles, 1 pd, and 1 interception over the first 5 games of the season, Williams is worth considering if you need a DB bye week player, especially since we know that Denver will try to pass.

Aqilb Talib – Again should be owned in your league, has 8 passes defended and 3 interceptions which help overshadow his 13 total tackles. I have similar feelings about him as I do Von Miller, move him if you can find someone that wants him.

Chris Harris Jr. – After you trade Talib, go pick up Harris Jr. and enjoy more consistency in tackles, with similar passes defended (6 so far this season, also has an interception), and enjoy whatever upgrade you were able to leverage with getting rid of Talib. More importantly, teams will throw away from Talib if they have other receiving options, as Talib is likely on their WR1, so that leaves Harris to cover the throws away from those WR1s.